Hi everyone! Hope you are all having a great day! I’m happy to finally share my maternity shoot with you! I wish I could have shared them before the baby came but unfortunately, I was having some issues with my photographer.

I did not have the best overall experience with this photographer. I think my vision was somewhat met, but it did not exceed my expectations at all and the delivery was incomplete. I’m happy to at least have some decent photos, but I have learned my lesson.

On that note, I will share some tips on how to choose a maternity photographer.

Tip #1 – Professionalism. Make sure they are professional.

Tip#2 – Make sure they are specifically a maternity photographer. Although a photographer can be good, maternity and babies are a whole other ball game. Posing, positioning, angles are all extremely important because you have a huge belly and you have also gained weight and the point is you want to look and feel good about yourself too.

Tip#3 – Payment. Make sure you are allowed flexibility in payment and set the ground rules from the beginning. You make final payment after photos are received.

Tip#4 – Timing. Maternity pictures shouldn’t take more than 2 weeks to complete.

Tip#5 – Communication. If communications starts to fail and the person is unresponsive to messages then its a already a bad sign.

Tip#6 – Editing. A photographer should know how to edit period. There are circumstances in all types of photography that is needed. For example, tan lines, skin color matching, maybe there’s an object that needs to be removed….etc.

Needless to say I failed at all of the above because I decided to step out of my comfort zone. Oh well! These things happen and it’s a learning experience. I hope you like my pictures that I tried to edit myself. lol…

–Hair is by the amazing Rosi Manto at Xchanges Hair Salon in Kenilworth, NJ

– Makeup is by the one and only Sam Alter

– Photography -I’m choosing not to disclose the photographer for her best interest.

Talk about homestretch, this is no joke. I am 37 weeks and 2 days pregnant and I am so over it. As a matter of fact, I have been over it since I was like 5 months pregnant. Everyone for some reason thinks the second pregnancy is easier because you’ve been through it already but it’s quite the opposite, at least for me it is. I mean your body is all stretched out already but everything hurts more. Your back hurts more, the stretching and pulling of your muscles, not to mention if it’s your second you also have a toddler most likely running around your house.

Remember all the naps you used to take with your first pregnancy? Well that doesn’t happen the second time, plus you’re chasing your toddler all over the place, picking up toys, bending over constantly, changing diapers, putting on shoes and pants, picking up the binky 50xs a day! It never ends. EVER. And now the baby is almost here and you’re already a tired mom and that tired is about to get REAL tired. At least I am more mentally prepared for a newborn than I was for the first. The first time you think its going to be easy right? I mean how hard can it be? And then your sleep deprived for weeks and months with a colic baby, talk about wake up call! This time I know better.

Goodbye sleep. It was nice having you back for a little. I already feel you dwindling away with my pregnancy insomnia so I am prepared to have you leave for another year. Hope you come back sooner than later.

Love you, Tired Mom.

Well, on that note I can’t wait to have my home birth! Super excited actually! 🙂 I haven’t been that great about keeping you all up to date one the whole pregnancy this time since mom life equals busy life. But I’ll keep you all posted. And of course I’ll share my birth story later on.

Meanwhile, we took some cool pictures in a milk bath, thanks to my wonderful husband <3 hope you like them! Xoxo!

Happy Birthday my love! My baby boy is 2! I can’t believe how time flies. 😩 AND he’s about to be a big brother!

It’s amazing how much he has grown and how much he’s learning every single day. He is my precious sweet baby boy, my first child, who made me the mama I am today. I thank you my love because you have changed me. You have made me the best mom I can be and I am so proud of that.

Yesterday we did his 2 year birthday shoot/ cake smash by yours truly 💁🏼 and I think we did pretty well. The wind didn’t help much but I think they came out pretty good for an amateur photographer. Hope you enjoy the photos!! Thanks for following!

Well here goes….. tada!!! I’m huge. They aren’t kidding around when they say the second time around you show faster. I couldn’t wait to announce my pregnancy a few weeks ago because I didn’t want this baby to be mistaken for a food baby! Haha! Well, needless to say last time I only got this big around 6 months so yea, 14 weeks aka 3 1/2 months and I’m already this big?!! Please tell me this is normal and it’s not twins (nervous laughter).

I can finally say though, I’m feeling much better this week, feeling more like myself. I am able to cook again, look at menus and pictures of food with out wanting to barf. Progress. 🙂 The first trimester ain’t easy that’s for sure but there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel. Now I am looking forward to having more energy and eating healthier foods without so many aversions.

Ok – so here is an update on how my hair is doing…..in one word….. AMAZING! I cannot rave about this enough. I would just like to add that I am not being endorsed by anyone but this is a true testimony and review of this product. I am truly amazed by the results. I will admit this does go against my crunchy ways, because you know I am the “coconut oil fixes everything” kind of girl but I was in need of some major help.

My hair immediately stopped falling out in clumps. I would say I have normal hair loss and breakage now. Before, I used to have hair all over my clothes through out the day and now I do not. If I were to just touch my hair through out the day, I would pull out a ton of hair and now that does now happen either. So again, if you are having hair loss for whatever reason, for me it was post pregnancy hair loss, I would suggest using this L’Oreal Profiber line. I use it once a week (because I only wash my hair once a week), shampoo, conditioner, mask and leave in treatment. Once a month there is a Recovery treatment but I will be going into the salon for it but you can do it at home.

I just want to send a huge shout out to my salon Xchanges Hair Artistry, for telling me about this. 🙂 AND if you’re in NJ and you need a great salon, here you go. You will not regret it. 🙂

Hope this helps some of you, if you’ve tried it too, I’d love to hear some of your experiences as well.